Comments on: Streetsblog Interview: Steve Hymon

By: betterfuture

betterfuture — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 05:47:00 +0000

Okay Steve, this is a 2nd post from me. Okay, I’ll admit I did kinda of sound like a snob even if I’m not one but what you did wasn’t right. In the other post I wrote and was cursing because I was mad at you for editing my posts and making it look bad and wasn’t even braking the rules. I understand you an do whatever you want but still wasn’t right what you did to my post. People are right, the internet is full of evil and all that and when there’s an abusive relationship then it’s time to walk away. I just don’t like what you have done, I not gonna forgive but hopefully you don’t do this to other posters because they will get mad! You know what your doing Steve Hymon. I’m sorry to say but I read the source and today was the last day of me reading it for the time. I understand they are rules but we should be able to have everyone take criticism of some things what Metro or anyone does. If you or anyone don’t like an opinion then why you allow comment posting? I thought you don’t care as long as we follow the rules but you care for a certain ones I said and deleted it off. I admit I was kind of a jerk too myself but now I’m not gonna bother posting since you think my posts are rude to you even if you didn’t say but I know and it’s okay. Imange If you owned your own forums, you wouldn’t want to censorship opinions you get offended because you will affect the popularity of the site. All am asking is to stop censorship the posts that don’t sound rude and have different opinions on the source. This is all I have to say. I knwo you may be mad at me for what I said in the 1st message directed at you and what I said on the source and anything else but I was only trying to speka out against certain things. BTW I am NOT a snob for the record.

By: betterfuture

betterfuture — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 23:38:00 +0000

Steve Hymon is a real jerk alright, he censorship some of my post and edit my post and made my post look bad because he didn’t agree with with me. He’s so ungreatful to us car drivers and taxpayers. He is so biased and problary a rasict bastard. He did descrimination before to users. Just because he’s the editors, he thinks he can do what he wants because he’s in charge but yet he brakes his own rules!

Either way, f*ck The Source and Steve Hymon and his libreal adgendas. They can go f**k themsekves for all I care. I never met this guy in real life but he looks like a total jerk online.

If your reading this Steve Hymond then I have a message for you, you Steve are really a biased idoit and an a**hole for what you did. How dare you edit and censor some stuff in my post on the Source just because you didn’t agree or like what I said. I know there are rules but my last post wasn’t breakin the rules and you didn’t approve a certain ones. Yo turly showed your true colors. If you don’t like criticism of Metro or the govenorment then why you allow comments? There nothing in the rules that said about you would disapprove posts that you didn’t agree. I very mad at you Steve Hymon the day you leave then I’ll be very happy and will say good riddance to your ass you jerk.

By: Kevin Crilley

Kevin Crilley — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:03:57 +0000

Imagine a town where you take the bus/train to work Monday, drive a plug in hybrid on Tuesday, bike in on Wednesday, and Telecommute on Thursday with Friday off due to a 10 hour work day…that would have a dramatic effect on traffic…these are all real options now…but all we need is to get 20% of commuters to choose one of these options once a week to get our freeways moving again.

By: Kevin Crilley

Kevin Crilley — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 05:44:01 +0000

Great to see so much thoughtful insight here from so many about transit in LA and so disappointing to see the slow death of the Times or any other newspaper…they are so important for keeping government accountable no matter what bias they suffer from on the editorial board. Steve did a great job with his column, pointing the flashlight of truth on the powers that be in this town. I would have been more aggressive and less diplomatic about the issues in his transportation column, but that is why I am blogging and why he has a column. I grew up here in LA, the son of Mary Lou Crilley, secretary to the last real general manager of the RTD John Dwyer prior to the MTA. I have watched as things have improved slowly, the great melting glacier of change that is the MTA, the miraculous change in air pollution, decreasing but not where it should be (plug in hybrids), the birth and expansion of rail, the triumph and tragedy of the freeway system, the advent of commuter rail in MetroLink, the growing bicycle movement for transit and recreation, the growth and expansion of the bus system and conversion to CNG and Rapid Buses. We have come a long way and we are on the verge of reaching critical mass with our transportation options in LA. But don’t be naive about the technical issues we face, the roadblocks for transit in this town are and always have been political not technical. Just ask where the money is flowing now: lots of traffic and cars always benefits the same gigantic industries, auto sales, auto parts, auto body, auto repair, auto insurance, auto gas, tires etc, so creating transit options threatens the gravy train for these powerful groups who lobby City Hall, Sacramento, and DC to thwart our best interests. But I have a dream, and I see a newer younger generation coming up that does not accept the status quo, that will insist on better options for transit, and clean air, and greener technology that is more interactive and less wasteful. The good news is the huge leaps in technology that already exist from clean diesel, to hybrids, to carbon fiber bike frames, coupled with the huge improvements in our rail system, and an electorate that is eager to vote and pay for transportation. What we need is a targeted approach to slowly continue pushing for bike options, rail options, bus options, clean taxis, car pool lanes etc. We don’t need to turn our backs on the automobile, just give commuters a choice and let cyclist ride the path, trian users need more and faster trains, buses should reflect ridership and be interactive (imagine using your i-phone to summon a bus) instead of the current grid use of many empty buses running all hours of the night, and satelite office facilities for telecommuting (once a week or once a month). We need more and better choices for transit, and those are funding choices, political choices, not technical dilemmas. Lastly, we don’t need to fight amongst ourselves and denigrate those who drive as polluters or those on the bus as second class citizens. Bike riders don’t need a bike lane on every street, just on certain key corridors like the Expo line and the LA River and other key corridors. MetroLink needs to spend more on safety and less on PR, since its inception it has been under funded and forced to choose between safety and performance. Running a commuter railroad is not rocket science, only in LA do we scratch our heads this way, wondering if it can be done when the rest of the world is already doing it. Transit Advocates: stick together, never give up, and melt that glacier that is the MTA in LA.

By: David Galvan

David Galvan — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 05:26:19 +0000

Now that the L.A. Times has laid Steve off, I’ll bet those slamming him for not taking the gold line every day will soon be wishing he was still driving to his L.A. times job. We’re going to be getting next-to-no transportation coverage from the Times now. Heavier burden to fall on the Daily News and the streetsblog and LAist, I guess.

By: browne

browne — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:00:45 +0000

We have local coverage at the LA Times? I really don’t care about the LA Times losing it’s California section. All the Calfornia section did was give free publicty to the friends of westsiders and there various projects. There was never anything in the local section that I didn’t know first or couldn’t learn being on a PR list from the various public agencies.

I’m not trying to be a jerk, but the facts were pretty much Steve got alot of stories, because he just got emails and memos from Metro’s publicity department first and stories that’s roots are in PR departments do they exactly qualify as stories?

Did he ever even take the bus one time?

And going back to the California section, the City of LA is almost 70% people of color, kind of odd that coverage didn’t ever seem to paint that picture.

Browne

By: Alan Thompson

Alan Thompson — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:48:16 +0000

His perspective will be missed if he is laid off or re-assigned. I think, with the decline of local newspapers in general, sites like Streetsblog and others will become even more important to provide news and information.

Damien attends a lot of government meetings and reads a lot of government documents in order to provide us with information. But he is only one person. It’s important for us to share what information we might pick up.

I’m slogging through the Rand Report (630 pages) originally reported on Streetsblog on Feb 2, but if anyone else wants to read it (about a 4 MB download),
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2008/RAND_MG748.pdf

By: Damien Newton

Damien Newton — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:53:13 +0000

I’m curious if anyone who was slamming Steve has a different view now that we’re faced with the possibility of not having much local coverage at all from the Times.

By: Joe Student

Joe Student — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:37:40 +0000

C. Phylis, you have to remember, that in this case, it was Damien who is the reporter and Steve is the interviewee. This is where you expect Damian to be non biased and professional (and he did a great job of that also).

Are you saying because Steve is a reporter that he cannot have a personal opinion on anything whatsoever, ever, 24 hours a day? He can’t have an active role in his community?

He is a human being, just like the rest of us, so he can’t fit whatever ideal you have constructed of him. No one can.

By: C. Phylis

C. Phylis — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:53:38 +0000

“A reporter’s job is to present the facts to the readers in a clear, truthful, and unbiased way. Hymon does that.” David Galvan

“I think that’s the big thing. I know people say that you’re gaining quality time by riding the train even though it takes longer. But, I don’t buy that.”Steve Hymon the hymen

Transit cannot and does not beat the private car outside of rush at anytime, anywhere. Why does such an honest man create such a web of lies just to cover his lazy ass? Why would a “reporter” who just presents the facts go on record suggesting to Ridley-Thomas that he should withold his vote on the Purple Line extension to politically move ahead his districts Crenshaw Line? Steve is obviously not an advocate for transit since he thinks that people who ride transit are all poor anyway and that’s not even the beginning of the problem. The root of the problem is why is he such a liar?

By: browne

browne — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:16:08 +0000

Corey (though this means little) I listed the Foothill Hill transit as the best Non-MTA line. It is a very good line at least for someone who wants to get from downtown to the depths of the SGV and back.

http://www.thebusbench.com/2008/12/the-best-of-the-bus-2008.html

By: Corey Manila

Corey Manila — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:03:40 +0000

And I’m going to have to say with Foothill, it’s always very nice and clean and ontime. Now for Gardena and Montebello I haven’t been on them enough to make an informed comment

By: David Galvan

David Galvan — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:57:02 +0000

My point, “really”, is that there is a difference between reporting and advocacy. A reporter’s job is to present the facts to the readers in a clear, truthful, and unbiased way. Hymon does that. He does not claim to be a transit advocate, and so I’m saying that your anger against him is based on a misunderstanding of his job of a reporter. And demonizing the one reporter at the L.A. Times whose job it is to inform us about what’s going on with transportation in this city doesn’t do you any good.

If you want advocacy, look to the editorials page. We need Steve Hymon to continue doing his job the way he’s doing it.

By: Fallopia Simms

Fallopia Simms — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 22:02:54 +0000

David you do understand that 95% of the COUNTRY doesn’t commute by transit as well….so what’s(really) your point?

“C” I completely understand your outrage. And the bullet point breakdown that you made about Hymon up above and why he should be removed from covering mass transit is a strong case indeed! I love your passion!

By: David Galvan

David Galvan — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:13:08 +0000

Oh for pete’s sake. C. Phylis, calm down. So he doesn’t take transit everyday. Big surprise. Neither does over 95% of the county.

Demonizing one of the best and most useful voices that transit in this county has does not help your cause, and resorting to juvenile name calling does not exactly make you come off as classy, let alone reasonable.

By: Spokker

Spokker — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:15:58 +0000

Buses are great for short trips. But trying to brave the 720 from Wilshire/Western to Westwood is going to age you very quickly.

By: C. Phylis

C. Phylis — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:30:47 +0000

Spokker I feel your pain as a rider of busses in many major US cities as well in other countries I’d have to agree that busses do “fucking suck” everywhere. Busses in LA for the past 40+ years have been attempting to do the job of what rail (LRT,HRT etc) was meant to do making the LA bus riding experience even more suckable.
Now the reason that arrogant people like Hymen actually can look down their nose on others is because we as a metro afford him cheap and easy parking both at work and at home. If he really would be forced to pay the true cost of operating and owning a car in one of the largest metros in the world he would suddenly find himself poor as well.
This is the classic redneck calling the hillbilly uncouth.
Basically this is the “I still can’t drink at the water fountain” but I’m still going push your face up against the church door to determine whether or not you can sing in the choir.
He’s repulsive and so are all the people like him who hold this mentality.

By: Spokker

Spokker — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 03:50:24 +0000

Taking the bus fucking sucks. Period. Taking the train can not fucking suck, but sometimes it fucking sucks too, especially in Los Angeles.

That’s all it comes down to. I wouldn’t ever take the bus if I didn’t have to transfer to it from the purple line, but I like riding the subway. If the subway wasn’t there, I’d be driving, simple as that. I have the means to, and I’m poor as shit.

Getting an old Honda or Toyota isn’t that hard.

By: C. Phylis

C. Phylis — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 09:45:34 +0000

2 1/2 months ago Hymon bemoans the state of transit in LA amidst all of the infighting amongst politicians who could not and would not see the big picture but who instead just pushed for their own projects in their own areas. He stated how lastingly detrimental this attitude would have for any hopes of a truly comprehensive system.

One month ago when asked how he commutes he blazingly says that since he has money he drives suggesting that if one doesn’t drive that means they don’t have money. He also stated that he could drive the 110 during rush in under 30 minutes. The first statement a jab at all of us who CHOOSE to ride transit and those of us who may have less of an alternative. Nevertheless, unfortunate choice of words for him. The second is just a str8 out LIE.

Then yesterday he goes on record suggesting to Ridley-Thomas that the most strategic way to get his districts Crenshaw Line some needed attention is to withold his very valuable vote from a possible decision on the acceleration of a Purple Line timeline. Ridley-Thomas goes on record as wisely non-responsive.

Good reporter?

By: ubrayj02

ubrayj02 — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 06:07:49 +0000

This is so wierd. The man is not an elected official. At the worst, his job is to sell fish bird cage liner. Worse still, I suppose, the liner isn’t for sale – his audience is.

Beyond that, give it a rest. You try filing as much hard news as he does in a professional way, day in and day out. See what happens to your bleeding heart.

Bloggers can’t hack it because, fankly, the job doesn’t pay enough. It is a hard job being a journalist, and eventually the job throws yo into domains that you are not an expert in. So, you write according to what you’ve been taught to do with new information.

Hymon is a good reporter. Leave the personal attacks for the politicians.